


kiss in the cave

by Odae



Series: gaang modern au [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, First Kiss, Road Trips, Secret tunnel, The Cave of Two Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25367653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Odae/pseuds/Odae
Summary: Aang and Katara have their first kiss in the Cave of Two Lovers.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Series: gaang modern au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799068
Comments: 8
Kudos: 64





	kiss in the cave

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little extra that goes into the kiss mentioned in my longer fic "Good Things." You don't need to read it to enjoy it, but if you like this little ficlet you might like the longer form as well!

The last time Aang saw Katara in her white bathing suit was on a road trip to Omashu last year. They were driving over the nearby mountains, only another day’s journey from the city, when they took a wrong turn. To Sokka’s dismay, the hippies they ended up asking for directions had just come from a secret tunnel —the Cave of Two Lovers, they called it—that led to an underground spring. Katara insisted on going, and Aang of course backed her up, and Zuko, still searching for Katara’s approval now that he was dating her brother, threw his vote behind her, too, and they ended up driving another hour out of their way to find it. They spent the rest of the day playing in the crystal clear water, sitting on the rocks of old limestone, and looking up through the mouth of the cave to make sure the blue sky was still above them. 

When the sun finally set, and they were all exhausted, they set up their camp and ate their dinner, pouring out cups of the white grain alcohol popular in seedy Earth Kingdom bars that Toph had forced Zuko to buy during one of their earlier stops. They settled in for what seemed like another night of telling stories and teasing each other before falling asleep around the fire, when Katara noticed the moon.

“It’s so beautiful,” she said, her own upturned face glowing under its light. And then a smile lit on her face. “We should go swimming again.”

Sokka bolted upright from Zuko’s side. “Are you crazy?” he asked.

“She’s drunk,” Toph laughed, face still turned toward the warmth of the fire.

“No, I’m not,” Katara denied, though her persistent smile and the light flush in her cheeks said otherwise. She gestured up at the moon. “Just, with the cave opening where it is, we could swim under the full moon.” 

Aang could see the soft excitement in Katara’s eyes and hear the breathlessness of her voice that revealed she was caught up in the romance of the idea.

“I’ll go with you,” he heard himself saying. 

And so there they were, once more shining a flashlight down the rickety wooden steps into the cavern, Aang holding Katara’s hand as they made their way gingerly to the limestone platform in the middle of the cave. Katara kept holding onto him once they were on the rock, looking up at the cave opening and the sky above them. The walls and the water of the cave with which they had grown so familiar during the day put on a shroud of mystery at night. Even with the flashlight, they could barely make out the dark corners of carved rock, and the landmarks they had identified in the water to mark different depths. They had entered unfamiliar territory in a space they thought they’d come to know. And the only option was to plunge in once more. 

“Turn it off,” Katara whispered. 

It took Aang a moment to know what she meant, but with a brush of his thumb, he flipped the switch of the flashlight.

All at once, Katara turned luminous. The soft moonlight bathed her in a silver glow, shining off the white of her swimwear, playing in the shadows of her dark hair, and making her even lovelier than she had looked before. Aang lost his breath when she smiled at him. The blue of her eyes had darkened to a deep azure, and a light flush had made its way over her dark skin, either from the alcohol or some other reason Aang couldn’t know. Before he could think about it more, however, Katara let go of his hand and made her way to the edge of the rock. Without so much as a look back at him, she sprung off of her toes and dove in a graceful arc into the black pool surrounding them. 

It took very little convincing for Aang to follow her, though he waited until she resurfaced and beckoned for him to jump in, too. Once they were both in the water, they swam in slow circles around each other, sometimes getting close enough to brush fingertips, normally staying consciously, teasingly out of reach. Then, suddenly, impulsively, Katara practically backed into Aang, lacing her fingers between his and starting to pull him around her in the water. 

He meant to sound teasing, or at least knowing, vaguely self-assured, when he asked, “What are you doing?” 

Katara immediately dropped his hand and pushed away. When she turned around, the blush on her cheeks had deepened. She looked embarrassed. But even more importantly, her brows drew together in a way, Aang knew from his years as a witness to her emotions, that meant Katara was angry.

“Nothing,” she said sharply, and she resumed her slow swimming, much further out of reach this time. Aang could only watch helplessly from his end of the distance. 

No jokes about the creepiness of the cave or suggestions of various water sports could bring Katara closer. She stayed resolutely eight feet away, her tone placid as she replied, “Not really,” and, “No, thanks,” each time Aang spoke. If he had any hair, he would have been tearing it out. Instead, he continued treading water, waiting for her irritation to fade, or just for something to give. Perhaps that was why, when a loud roar rang through the cave, his first emotion was relief. Then, of course, he came to his senses and panicked, shouting at Katara, “What was that?”

Katara looked at him with wide eyes. “That wasn’t you?”

Aang started to shake his head when another roar ripped through the walls of the cave. In almost no time, he and Katara had met halfway and stood side by side in the water, holding onto each other tightly. Both lapsed into terrified, shaky silence as they watched the dark for some sign of the sound’s source. 

“Okay,” Aang said eventually, “that was officially really scary.”

Katara nodded in agreement from beside him. “What do you think it was?” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” Aang replied quietly. 

He listened carefully in the dark for anything else, but when all he could hear was the whistling of the breeze at the cave’s mouth, his tone turned louder and lighthearted. “But whatever it was, it’s gone now.”

He readied himself to let go of Katara, to take his arm away from its position around her waist, but stopped. She had not moved. Her arm was still around his neck, and her other hand rested on his chest. 

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said quietly. She traced a drop of water rolling down his collarbone with the tip of her finger. 

“Me, too,” Aang said. They could hear the sounds of water dripping from stalagmites into the pool. Katara’s fingers were still tracing lightly over his chest. 

Slowly, as though he were a wild animal she might scare off, Katara moved in the water so she was completely in front of Aang, her chest against his own, and her hand moving to stroke the back of his neck.

“Is this okay?” she asked, even quieter this time. 

Aang only nodded, staring at the heavy look of her eyes and the flush spilling across her cheeks.

Slowly, again, with only a moment’s hesitation, and briefly biting her own lip, Katara leaned forward and kissed him. 

Aang’s eyes shot open, the adrenaline of his fear mixing with the joy flaring in his chest and making for a very confusing reaction. But before he could think through any other response, his eyes closed and he pressed his lips back against Katara’s, wrapping his arm tighter around her waist and not even stopping himself as his other hand reached up to cradle the base of her neck and the underside of her jaw, his long fingers tangling in the softness of her hair. He grinned at the little sigh that escaped Katara’s parted mouth in response, before she tilted her head up and kissed him again, eagerly and sweetly and brazenly all at once.

She laughed when they pulled apart, the sound tinkling throughout the cave and off of the rocks hanging above them. Aang joined her, almost disbelieving the sight of her in front of him with her arms still wrapped around his neck.

“This has to be a dream,” he breathed, “and any second now I’m going to wake up.”

Katara giggled again, and then took his hand in hers. “I keep thinking the same thing,” she admits with a grin. Her face softened, and her voice turned gentle as she began, “But, Aang, you should know, I want—”

A crash sounded throughout the cavern and drowned out all other sounds. This time, there was not just the loud, low groan of some animal, but also the eerie, painful sound of rock shifting and clashing.

“Uh,” Aang started, “we should probably go now.”

Their hands stayed clasped as they rushed out of the water and onto the rock, grabbing the flashlight and vaulting up the wooden stairs, through the tunnel, and back out into the open air, the moonlight pouring on them from all directions, rather than just from a single hole exposing the sky.

Once they slowed to a walk, Katara was laughing again, her hand squeezing Aang’s tightly. Whether it was from the adrenaline or the alcohol, neither could really tell, but Aang smiled at her all the same, immeasurably relieved to be back on solid earth, with only the canopy of trees above and the path back to their camp stretching leisurely out in front of them. 

“That was a terrible idea,” Katara whispered once they could see the remains of the campfire. Sokka, Zuko, and Toph had all fallen asleep in different spots around the circle of rocks containing it, sprawled out on assorted sleeping bags and pillows they had brought in the car. 

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Aang said lightly, sitting on the ground at the same time as Katara. He paused. “Did you?”

Katara turned her head to look up at him, the same flush she had had in the cave dappling the tops of her cheekbones. “No,” she finally said, a small smile on her lips. She turned back toward the remaining fire. Her voice was rich and warm as she added, “I had fun.”

Aang smiled at her words, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand as he mulled them over.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Katara said quietly, and before Aang could respond, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and settled her head against his shoulder.

Aang sat quietly and watched the embers of the campfire dying out in front of them, enjoying the weight of Katara against him and the cool breeze fluttering the leaves and brushing his bare skin. 

The wind changed direction and whistled quietly through the trees, ruffling tendrils of Katara’s hair. He put his arm around her to guard against the cold, and when she shifted to lean further into him, her breathing slowing and evening out, something nudged his resolve into place, and he began to speak.

“Katara, there’s something I want to tell you. I like you, but more than normal. You’re my best friend, and I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and...” He sighed. “I really want us to be together.”

Aang went silent as he waited for Katara’s response. The fact that she was still leaning against him seemed like a good sign; at least he hadn’t scared her off. But her silence was still disconcerting, until he finally looked down and saw her eyes were shut, and that she was fast asleep. 

“Never mind,” he whispered, smiling ruefully. He settled in beneath her and waited for the night to pass. There was still tomorrow morning, when they could hopefully talk about their kiss, and what it meant, before leaving for Omashu. Because it meant everything to Aang, kissing Katara. It was the realest expression he had made of his feelings for her in years. The friendship bracelets, the fruit pies snuck out from the bakery, the hours he spent sitting next to her at the library, could all be construed as something other than what he meant by them. But what had happened in the cave was real, and in Aang’s eyes, unmistakable.

All he could hope was that it was real for her, too.

  
  



End file.
